home improvement | Our Marriage Adventure

A Week of Lazy

July 9, 2012 By Stephanie

So clearly I lazed around all last week, but I honestly think I needed that time off. It was time for me to well one be lazy. A concept Alex desperately wishes I would practice more often (at least that is how he tells it to me.) The second reason though, was because I was determined to have a great birthday week this year.

Alex really supported me in my decision to do this. Work has been….horrid. I’ll be honest its been horrid. I’ve typed up (and ripped up) a resignation letter. I’ve cried. I’ve just plan gotten angry. And Alex knows its been eating at me so this past week was a time for me to chill.

Miller chill baby! (What I love this beer…yes Jarrett it’s a cheap beer but its oh so good.)

Anyway, so on Tuesday I got to leave a little early which was good because Alex somehow managed to talk my ass into attending this “Ladies Night” BS at Home Depot down by where he works. It was an organization class and I honestly didn’t get a darn thing out of it in terms of ideas mostly because I’ve been researching this on Pinterest a ton lately! Anyway – so I ended up having to insert my foot into my mouth about how silly this was by the end of the night because I won a door prize. I’ve been BEGGING Alex to puh-lease redo our master closet for months now, but those darn systems are EXPENSIVE!! (Well they are….for our income.) By the end of this event I walked out with a $130 kit to redo our closet.

I don’t deny having closed my eyes and going “God please let them call me oh please oh please.” (When they called my name I threw my hands up in the air and shouted YES!!!!!!)

Wednesday was birthday bash galore but I’ll make that its own post.

Thursday I basically sat on my rumpus all day. Seriously…we don’t have t.v. service so I read all dang day. Well I read while my computer processed my redo of my Lightroom catalog of 2k plus photos.

I did get up once to go meet Alex for lunch since its rare for me to visit him. It was a great treat for both of us.

On the way home I continued my “celebrate me” week theme by getting my annual Starbucks. Yum!

Friday I well…I felt guilty for Thursday. So I did laundry and dishes. Then I primed our cabinet drawer fronts (the backs have been primed for a week or two), before getting out and FINALLY painting my desk. Alex is going to help me move the darn thing after this part dries so that I can actually finish it.

Inside and the top are all that is left…thank goodness!!

Other than that it was vacuuming, basic straightening by picking up the misc stuff through the house, and balancing the check book. (Yea I’m back to handling that…boo hiss.)

Saturday and Sunday were the “typical” weekend events of grocery shopping, church, and minor social events. I feel bad that Alex doesn’t get weeks like this, but every time I mention a vacation he holds back.

Not sure if that is the “male must work” mindset he has or what but I do know I am incredibly grateful he let me take a week like this for myself.

Filed Under: Marriage Matters, Traveling Lee's Tagged With: home improvement, Stephanie, Vacation 4 Comments

Pine cones Keep Falling

April 2, 2012 By Stephanie

Its been raining pine cones, tree bark, and pollen in our neighborhood this week. Why? Well mostly because our super awesome neighbors have skills.

And no fear of heights. (I feared for them…this was C-R-A-Z-Y to watch!)

We have had three big ol’ pine trees in our yard for forever. I don’t love the idea of chopping down old trees, but y’all if you’ve ever experienced tornadoes you can understand that having three of these babies literally FEET away from our house has freaked me out. Additionally, pine trees have shallow roots.

Now yes, logic says they’ve been here and been FINE through all this time we’ve lived here and then some. We, however, live in the Georgia version of “tornado alley” and I’m not taking chances. So first opportunity it was buh-bye pine trees.

Last weekend my neighbor’s tree-climbing brother climbed up our tree with a chainsaw and one rope. (That is 120 feet + / – a few feet y’all.)

Then he trimmed.

Then he cut.

And the trees came a tumbling down.

BEST TAX DOLLARS SPENT EVER.

How did you spend your refund? Or how are you planning to spend it this year?

Filed Under: House and Home, Marriage Matters Tagged With: home improvement, home owner, yard work 2 Comments

Saturday Straightening

January 16, 2012 By Stephanie

What a difference a day makes! Saturday Alex and I spent almost the entire day cleaning our house. It’s needed it so bad lately, but well with me working from home on the weekends and him at a physically demanding job housework was beyond last on our list.

So we finally broke down this weekend and cleaned. I was lucky and got to clean the inside. Alex put the decorations from Christmas back in the attic and then cleaned the garage.

Well after he put a hole in our ceiling he cleaned. Like the new attic skylight? Sighs. Home ownership is full of little surprises.

b9587fba Saturday Straightening

High note is we have a highly organized garage! (This is key to a happy husband.)

While he was outside making skylights, I was inside cleaning our house. Well I was inside picking items from our living room, dining room, and kitchen and placing those items in our bedroom, guest room, and office for review. The main living room areas look great! The office? Not so much.

25a0064b Saturday Straightening

(Why yes. I did luck out in this. I’m no fool!)

As you might have guessed the office is more often than not our “dump room.” Do you have a “dump” space in your house? How often do you clean it?

Filed Under: House and Home, Marriage Matters Tagged With: Alex, church home, home improvement, home office 6 Comments

Working Weekend

August 29, 2011 By Stephanie

What a weekend. You’d think on a weekend we’d sit and relax and well…have a week-end!

Pshaw! We’ve got way to much going on for that! We were able to spend Saturday night with friends, but Sunday was reserved for some impressive skills!

Now y’all know I don’t do laundry. I don’t, its true. Mostly because I forget that I’ll have a load in the washer for um…days. (Speaking of which…I think I have a load I left in there now. Oops!) So on Sunday when Alex decided today was the day for some construction I very quickly volunteered to do laundry!

(Hello AC!)

I’m so very lucky to have a handy husband and a handy dad. Otherwise the porch that we Alex ripped apart a few months ago would still look like this.

f03c5870 Working Weekend

Sunday they got their grove on and soon the posts came down.

Measurements were taken.

And then they cut the posts so that we would have a brand new look to our front porch.

They really did an awesome job. I enjoyed my “job” as the photographer. A good photographer makes every chore better is what I told them when I wandered out from my AC haven to take photos.